Recertification
by Anotherjaneway
Summary: Station 51's gang gets buried in rubble during a robbery on a mall and casino. Can Dr. Brackett save them in time?


This is a text version of the original still airing imaged, music soundtracked story.

Emergency Theater Live, Episode Twenty

20. Recertification Season Three - Episode 20 Short summary-  
Station 51's gang gets buried in rubble during a robbery on a mall and casino. Can Dr. Brackett save them in time?

****WARNING**** The long summary to come is very story spoiling and will take away plot surprises if you read it now before reading the longer story below it.

Decide now if you want to read this episode's detailed summary before doing so.

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Long Summary-  
Kel Brackett feels the brunt of writing new paramedic protocols for the county and the agony of change filters down to Johnny and Roy.  
Station 51 responds to a shopping mall aerial walkway collapse.  
Roy and Johnny crawl into a buried escalator after some victims.  
Criminals use the disaster to try and knock off a mall run casino and in the process, Captain Stanley's shot. A further collapse buries the gang and the casino's surveillance and security department pulls out all the stops to aid the firefighters. Brackett responds to assist with triaging Hank's emergency surgery through a hole in the escalator. Dixie has some fun during a paramedic hospital meeting in the end.

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The Story Unfolds...

Season Three, Episode Twenty.  
Recertification Debut Launch: April 1st, 2005.

*  
From: "Cory Anda" Date: Mon Apr 4, 2005 3:02 pm Subject: The Changes in the Air..

Dr. Kelly Brackett pulled up into his parking place under the Jerusalem pine row next to the fire paramedic chopper pad. Joe Early, in the passenger seat next to him, grabbed his travel mug and got out of the convertible.  
Kel was twenty feet away from their parking space when he immediately about faced and returned to re-key the driver's door to roll up all four of his windows snugly, including the sun roof.

"Kel, I don't think it's gonna rain.." teased Joe Early.  
"There's not a cloud in the sky this morning."

Brackett grumbled, adjusting his wide splashy tie as he paced back to the silver haired doctor's side. "I learned my lesson about not doing this, the hard way. Joe, I'm surprised at you. The first time I forgot to seal up, I had so much dust in my car from all the chopper landings that I could leave fingerprints on the dashboard. Deep ones!"

"Guess my last name's too close to the beginning of the alphabet,  
Kel. Every non-surgical doctor up to M has to park in the east lot, remember?" Joe said. "But that doesn't mean our cars don't get just as filthy..."

"Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten, you guys have the honor of parking near the freeway ramp." he gave a shudder. "All that oil vapor's much worse."

"Not really."

"I think so. Having to wash gummy petroleum scum off your car windows is ten times more annoying. I may get to park nearer the main doors, but I didn't expect that privilege to include free auto paint sandblasting.."

"Oh, hush, Kel. You love the chopper program and you know it."

"I'll either affirm or deny that after a cup of joe, Joe.".. he winked,  
deliberately teasing Early with the pun on his first name. "It's too early to be admiring how lovely our suburban hospital is sitting in the middle of an urban city setting." Dr. Brackett joked sarcastically. "The only thing rustic about our location is the silhouette of the mountains we sometimes get to see whenever the smog lifts."

"Do we need cleaner gasoline?" Early wondered, thinking on it with a frown.

"I know it. Just look at the middle of your driving lane sometimes. They are black as coal. No wonder people are dropping from respiratory and cardiac disorders like flies."

"Job security, Kel. What's on your agenda for today?" Joe chuckled as they walked the short distance to the emergency ambulance doors for the doctor's lounge to pick up their white doctor's coats.

"A little paper pushing. A surprise meeting with Los Angeles County regulatory board itself. Seems the big shots from the fire department want to "standardize" my paramedic program to fit their new system on how they train new firefighters.."

"Oo, I don't like the sound of that. What are they looking for?"  
Dr. Early asked curiously. His mild shy smile never left his face.

"Probably how to put a bandaid on someone while simultaneously manning a fire hose. Who knows? Guess I'll find out once I get there."

"What's there to replan? Your paramedic training candidate success rate's been almost perfect these last past six years. Especially using fire engine rescue men training up to the paramedic squad level. Johnny Gage is a classic example of that."

"It's not that they're not happy with my certification county claims that they have new technologies they wish to incorporate into the department system, both on the medical and firefighting fronts. The most obvious being the creation of a paramedic manual with some pre-set standardized protocols to eliminate the usual field to doctor communication time delays on implementing victim treatments. Seems they don't like all the rehashing being done over the repeater tower frequencies for medical clearances. They say all the unnecessary air time's getting expensive to regulate and coordinate."

"Oh, I get the picture. It is you or them who's embarrassed by all your paramedics out-thinking the doctor and anticipating your orders over the radio?"

"Not me. I love the fact that some of my senior medics do that. Saves me a lot of headaches on busy base station call days."

"Sure it does..." Joe teased sarcastically. "And the chiefs, too. They want you to write those fixed new protocols into stone to put your county funded money where your mouth is to save THEM a couple of bucks."

"Just call me Moses..." Kel quipped, not hiding an obvious truth.

"I don't envy you. I can see the practicality of doing a change like that. Perhaps the biophone concept as we know it, is on the way out.." Joe theorized.

"Not in a million years." Brackett grumbled good naturedly. "How can you improve the telephone industry? Eliminate telephone wires for everybody?"

"Stranger things have happened.." Joe said. "So, what's some of the new stuff the fire department wants to implement into the new manual?"

"We'll find out at the meeting. Want to sit in on it? I could use your input.  
I already have all the paramedics scheduled to attend the county fire heads with the Physician's Association in a series of conferences to refine needs for the new guidelines I've been asked to write."

"On top of your usual ER workload?" goggled Dr. Early.

"Seniority sucks sometimes, too, Joe."

"I'm so there. Who else is going to watch your back to make sure you don't crack under the pressure?"

"A friend to the end. Knew I could count on you." smirked Kel.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The gang had just cleared the table of breakfast dishes when Cap came in the room with a brown paper sealed, person sized package stamped priority mail.

Johnny Gage, being curious, asked about it. "What's that, Cap? A new chalkboard for the rec room?"

"No, it's a piece of new equipment we're to start training on. One of several new pieces for the engine. Grab the other end and help me open it." Stanley said hefting the bulky package over the table top. Marco, Chet and Stoker hastily cleared away the napkin holder, and the salt and pepper shakers.

Gage ripped open the paper like a kid at Christmas. His face immediately frowned. "What're all these? A new set of cave in braces?"

"No, Gage. What else does it look like? Far out, Cap. I read up on this in the Fire Science Digest last month." Chet said.

Roy DeSoto quit rubbing his chin as the paper wrapping fell away. "It's a new kind of stretcher.." he guessed.

"Yep. It's called a scoop stretcher. And this thing's only the first of the new stuff that's being tested out with us in the field. Seems there's gonna be new standards of recertification in the works for all of us simple firefighters." Cap said, trying to smile.

The other firefighters, quit smiling. "You're kidding.." said Marco. "You mean learning all those engineer chemical formulas and hose pressure calculations weren't bad enough?"

"Apparently not." said Hank.

Gage started laughing. "Too bad, guys. Maybe you all should become paramedics to avoid all that....on the job training suffering."

"Wipe that smile off your face, Gage. This," Cap frowned as he smacked down a large fat notebook that they all recognized as the squad drug pharmacology manual from his office down onto the table."..is for you. Brackett wants you to take it to the first of several meetings to go over the new paramedic changes, starting today. Seems a bunch of trial senior paramedics have already attempted to pass the new mock test recertification standards. Over half of them, failed. One of them who didn't pass, I'll have you know, was Craig Brice."

The smiles fled off Roy and Johnny's faces. "What? But he's the walking rule book. How can he-?" Gage broke off, dumbstruck.

Roy simply sighed, closing his eyes.

Chet Kelly started chuckling. "Well, what's good for the goose.." he leaned into Johnny's gaping face, hefting up the heavy, dusty, little used drug manual and sent it into Gage's arms with a toss, "..is good for the gander. Join in the fun, boys. Looks like it's just beginning... for all of us.."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo: Joe Early and Kel Brackett, conferring.

Photo: Roy and Johnny studying manuals.

Photo: A metal scoop stretcher.

Photo: Brackett and a lot of paramedics in a meeting.

Photo: Cap in a closeup from the office.

*  
From : patti keiper Sent : Friday, April 8, 2005 3:46 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Scene..

The SCU tones went off, long ones, calling out both the squad and the engine. As he ran, Cap couldn't quite suppress some shivers.  
L.A.'s information had followed quicker than normal after the electronic call signs for multiple stations. "Move guys. This one's big..." Hank said unnecessarily. "Lopez, take the new scoop in with you guys into the crew compartment. We'll stash it in storage later if there's no need for it. I already have the rest of the new equipment in the back.  
I'll train you up as we go."

"Right, Cap." said Marco and he picked up the two halves of the new stretcher from the tabletop. Chet helped him carry the two sections like a ladder.

Everyone was in full turn out even before the bay doors fully opened. Stoker drew out the massive Ward La France to the edge of the drive behind the squad and waited for the rest of the call.

##Stations 99, 24, 10, 18 and 51 with Battalion 1. Structural collapse at the Beverly Mall. 8500 Beverly Boulevard. Cross street, Cienega Boulevard. 8500 Beverly Boulevard. Cross street, Cienega Boulevard...##

Roy hung an immediate right.

##..Mall supervisors report multiple trapped casualties. Negative on fire occurance or main structure compromise. Triage protocol alerts have been issued. Incident 10-20 is the central rotunda, west entrance. Time out, 1003...##

Cap picked up the radio mic. "Station 51, 10-4. KMG 365.." as a chorus from the other four stations followed suit. Then he picked up his HT and flipped over to truck to truck. "Have any of you been here before? The center's a large-ish concrete four level behemoth on the end of the main drag."

"Yeah, Cap. The layout's a sort of lopsized diamond. The rotunda's a big open area with two elevator shafts situated opposite on a square. If I remember rightly, there's glass in the ceiling latticed with steel girders above it over marble flooring." said Kelly. "Nothing that could burn, but I wouldn't be surprised if one or two water mains were effected. There is a large cafe like restaurant adjacent to the plaza with an open air bar extending into it."

"Anyone else have something to add?" asked Cap, hunting for more information.

Marco spoke up."Electricity may be a factor. There's an escalator hub that runs complementary on the non-shaft sides. Right in the middle. I seem to remember four flights of them running three decks high next to each other. There's a central wishing pool and a two story sculpture."

Chet added more. "I can't understand it, Cap. What could have collapsed if it's not the roof? There's nothing major over that area."

Hank considered, then he thumbed the talk button again on his walkie so the squad could hear him. "When was the last time you were at the mall, Kelly?"

"Around the holidays.."

"So your knowledge is six months old. Maybe there's been new construction." Cap interjected. "Thanks, guys." then he flipped over to Tach Command frequency.  
"Station 51 to Battalion 1. Where do you want us?"

##51, the north parking lot. Go in through the restaurant to avoid the ongoing evacuation of the effected area through the main public entrances. Also, there's bound to be congestion from traffic due to the proximity of a small casino so watch out for that.  
Lay no line until I've determined the full nature of the incident.##

"10-4, Battalion 1." said Hank. "51, going off TC channel."

Mike Stoker had overheard. Cap switched back to crew frequency. "Roy, take her into the north lot. Head for the restaurant. We're going through the kitchens.."

##10-4, Cap..##

Gage, sitting next to DeSoto, rubbed his chin in anticipation. "I don't like the sound of this one. I knew it was gonna be a big call but this feels REAL big."

"Time to earn our pay.." Roy said with a sober face. He sped up, pushing seven over the speed limit.

"Ever been there?" Johnny said over the sirens.

Gage's unanticipated question startled Roy where he sat tensely.  
"Yeah, it's a gorgeous place. An engineer's waking dream. Joanne likes it.." he broke off, studying his hands nervously. "...so do the kid--" He didn't finished the sentence. Both knew the chance of young victims was probably high due to the fountain's attraction factor.

"But there's also a bar there.." Johnny said, as if reading his partner's mind.

"Yeah..." Roy said, uncomforted. "But I still don't feel any better about it. A lot of people could be attending a large special event or something."

"What things go on at the center?"

"I remember Tuesday's tea. They sometimes have a band playing."  
Roy sighed.

"And it would have to be Tuesday.. terrific." Gage said sarcastically.  
"Dozens could be down, if not hundreds.."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo: A neon and concrete shopping center edge from a road's view.

Photo: The interior of a large open area mall.

Photo: Roy on the squad mic, talking.

Photo: The engine and squad pulling up to a scene near police and a battalion chief.

*  
From : Roxy Dee Sent : Friday, April 15, 2005 11:08 PM Subject : Sifting~~

##To all units, this is Battalion One. We've updated information. I'm on scene. I'm seeing a broken water main from the fourth floor over what appears to be a collapsed aerial sidewalk in the main rotunda.  
First-in reports over a dozen casualties visible with evidence of others trapped out of sight via eye witness accounts. I'm declaring this scene chemical hazmat negative. L.A., Battalion One, return Hazmat response. Notify a heavy equipment assignment, including bulldozers.##

##10-4, Battalion One. Station 99, return.##

## Station 99, ten four.## said a travelling fire captain.

##Time out, 10:10.## replied L.A. ##*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP* Brush Nine,  
Excavation Ten, aerial sidewalk collapse at the Beverly Mall.  
8500 Beverly Boulevard. Cross street, Cienega Boulevard. 8500 Beverly Boulevard. Cross street, Cienega Boulevard. Timeout: 10:11#  
rehailed L.A. Headquarters.

Roy and Johnny tuned out the remainder radio traffic, focusing instead on where they were going. The place wasn't hard to find. Two other stations were already flanking Battalion One's red chief's car at the north entrance and a heavy plume of dust was following in the wake of those evacuating the mall's central courtyard. Already, basic framework for a triage network was setting up.

Captain Stanley thumbed the engine mic. "Station 51, Battalion One. On scene."

Battalion One's rich voice reverberated through the HT net from his location inside the mall. ##Battalion One, Station 51. Tackle the north end of the collapse nearest the ruptured water main. We're hearing about multiple victims in that area. Mall management indicates those who may be trapped number less than two hundred according to ticket sales. I'm declaring a full emergency triage situation. Handle by priority condition only.  
A canine search unit has been deployed.##

"10-4, Battalion One. Station 51 is moving in.." Hank said firmly, but his voice betrayed anxiety over what was to be discovered. He leaped out of the cab before Stoker could coast the Ward to a halt. "Chet!, Marco! Ignore all hosework! Grab extrication gear and all the medical stores we have! Stoker, go with Roy and Johnny, help them get situated ASAP. Stokes oughta work going through the restaurant. It's bound to be cramped in the kitchen.." Cap reported.

He had never seen his men hustle faster. ::Recertification, my *ss. You can't speed any crew faster than mine.:: thought Hank ruefully. Then he entered the mall.

Station 51 barely heard the plainitive questions coming from the cafe's workers who were as yet unaware of the collapse out in the central plaza.  
They focused on those witnesses who were screaming and running,  
for details.

A man, his face looking as flat as a manikin's, under a layer of concrete dust,  
stumbled against Roy as he fled the cafe's eating area.

"An old lady was on top of my ankle, screaming. I said to her, `Be calm. Breathe deep,' but she just kept struggling. I felt her last movement. She's dead!"

"Easy, keep moving outside. There are people outside who can help you!  
Go!" DeSoto said, piling his gear onto a white wire patio table that was safely under an overhang dripping ivys and away from the fountaining high pressure water shooting from the fractured suspended pipes spilling out thirty feet overhead.

Gage had grabbed another dazed witness, equally dusted in chalk white and dotted with red wounds. "I was watching the dance contest," the woman said, recalling. "Thank God I'm short. I was surrounded by tall people. It- it, it hit them first .." she said weakily, " I saw it falling, and there was nowhere to go."

Johnny gripped her face. "You're ok, you're ok.. Hey, can you hear me? Now follow that man. You've got to get out of here, ma'am. It's not safe with all the debris in here."

"Oh, ok..." she said, stumbling towards a police man in rain gear who was at the end of a human chain showing the way out.

Gage shouted to his crewmates. "Put it all here! This'll be our base station!"  
he said slamming a glove onto the white metal mesh of the large patio table. Soon, piles of gear, oxygen tanks from the squad and Ward, were lined up and cracked open.

Roy and Johnny ran past and through the plume of escaping water once they determined that the plaza's main power had indeed been shut off. They carried with them, just the basics, dressings, airways and their radios. Pushing through the blinding curtain of water, they found a sunny open spot in the dusty gloom and headed for it.

In the glinting bright morning sunlight, on the mall's floor, was carnage. Dozens of victims were pinned, dying beneath the debris. Bodies cut in half. Broken necks, broken backs, severed limbs.

Captain Stanley paused in shock only momentarily, wiping away streams of pipe wash from his face and eyes. "Oh.." he gasped in mental angst. Then he shut out his feelings. "Gang, fan out sixty feet square and don't go beyond it! Remain in visual and radio contact. Go for those making sounds, tag em, assure any breathing,  
then keep moving. I'll prioritize who gets first attention when we're set for cutting as the equipment gets here...Go.." he said unnecessarily.

His men followed orders explicitly, ignoring the unconscious, doing little beyond inserting short oral airways to those still pink with a pulse, before they reluctantly moved to a moaning victim.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outside, Battalion One was grabbed by one man ignoring his surroundings.

"Why haven't they brought her out?" the older man asked. "My whole life's in there." He stared blankly toward the mall entrance, holding his wife's purse, which she had handed to him before the accident.  
"My wife just wanted to get closer to the orchestra......."

The chief gently peeled the man's hands off his jacket and shouted.  
"Hey, lieutenant!! Help this man! Non injured!" he shouted, then he leaned the man against his red car. "Easy sir, go with this fireman,  
I promise he'll do everything he can to locate your wife."

The man went.

Sighing, Battalion returned to the business at hand, directing personnel to the disaster.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some spanless time later, a rain jacketted Vince Howard appeared at Cap's side. "I was here from the beginning, there was a big snap, like lightning in your back yard," said the cop. "It was the worst thing I have ever seen," he said. "I watched the people on the walkway grab a hold of it when it began to tip over. Then, they just disappeared. I think it was just the weight of the people that made it collapse."

Cap took Vince's arm and turned him around, away from the main pile of shattered concrete, twisted wire and the worst of the red speckled shattered glass. "How many?"

"About one hundred people were dancing, and everybody else was sitting down," Howard said. "But the area under the walkway is jammed, because that's where the bar was."

"Ok.." Hank said. He lifted his plastic wrapped HT. "Roy, Johnny.  
Focus our team nearest the fallen platform. Seems most people were there at the bar.."

##Ok, Cap..## said Johnny in reply.

Vince rubbed his dusty face. "No one panicked and few even cried. Everybody was so incredibly calm. I couldn't believe it."

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Nah.. I was doing my mall beat like usual, I just happened to be leaving the cafe after lunch when it happened. I told the first squad cars to ignore those lying still and go after the people covered with blood and still moving." said the dusty, wet policeman.

"That was a tough call, but you did right.." Hank said quietly.

A scream from right near their feet, shot both of them into action and they picked their way across crunching gory glass over to it. Hank drew out an all weather flashlight and played it down deep underneath the red stained platform.

"Marco, help me lift this brass railing! I see a hollow space under here.  
What is this spot? The top of the escalator?"

"Yeah, I think so..." said Vince. "We're situated right.." he said, eyeing the square open air courtyard above them.

A muffled male voice filtered out. "Hey..*cough* Somebody's alive down here! Help me, please....!"

Cap waved over Kelly as well signalling urgently for a red hydraulic brace beam. "Mister, how badly are you hurt?" he shouted, aiming a flashlight in through the dripping water from the pipe. Sunlight made a checkerboard of gray dust and red wounds over the man's face. "I..I..I'm..in town for a convention. I think I was struck on the arm by a brass railing and then by a ...by a...*gag*..falling body. It- she hit my neck."

"Don't move.. I have some men coming down to ya.." Hank commanded.  
He pulled out his HT antennae. "Roy, Johnny. Over to me. I've picked the first one. He's trapped next to the bed of tooth treads on the escalator at its top. Bring full spinal gear. And ropes."

##On our way, Cap..## said Roy.

Mercifully, the roaring water pipe above the rescue area slowly trickled off, leaving behind puddles of pink as mall maintenance crews finally shut off the flow.

Immediately, the moans of survivors attracted the roving fire rescue crews like moths to a flame.

"That's a relief.." Hank said to Vince. Then he turned back to the hole.  
"What's your name in there?!"

There was no answer.

"Hey!" said Cap. He picked up a twisted plaster dusted metal rod and began slamming it against the part of the silver side of the escalator he could reach. "Stay with me.!"

Instantly, the man's panicked cries rewarded him. "Stop it! *cough* The whole thing'll collapse on me!" he gasped.

Cap looked farther up the debris pile and along the shape he now recognized. "You're in a safe pocket. The sidewalk flooring capped the escalator when it fell. Don't worry. These steel side walls are more than strong enough to hold everything until we get you out of there. Just keep talking..."

"O-ok....."

Soon, the rest of the station gang was at Cap's side.

Roy knelt, pulling off a coiled rope from his overjacketted shoulders. "What'cha got, Cap?"

"Man with neck injuries lying along the escalator treads somewhere under that.." he said pointing to the angled jumble of rosy marble fractured in gigantic scale over the length of the escalator. "If he's in there, chances are, others may be, too. They've been protected from any crushing forces. I want you and Johnny to go in and get him out of there. Take a belt line down with you. We'll send a stokes when you give the word..."

Johnny nodded, shifting his dusty helmet a little higher on his head.  
"Ok.. Mister. We're coming down! Just hold still!"

"Hurry..*gasp* It's getting hard to breathe. She's still on top of me.."

Roy leaned into Cap. "What's he talking about?"

"Man says a body fell on his head and neck and that's how he got hurt."

"Let's hope she's not in the way.." Gage said frowning. Then he adjusted his belt, rope and gloves and started climbing downwards. "Roy..I'm using my penlight in my teeth as I go so I won't be able to talk to ya until we get to him.."

"Ok.."

Roy, soon followed his partner down onto the pitch black, glass crunching steel escalator stairs, underneath the remains of the aerial walkway.

Cap added his two cents worth. "And keep those radios ON you at all times. Use them every five minutes. Got that?"

"Yeah..." both paramedics replied. Then Roy did nothing but keep a vocal connection with the trapped man they knew lay somewhere beneath them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo: A sunny mall central court, with a flooring collapse in the middle of it.

Photo: Mike Stoker, looking pensive by the engine.

Photo: People peering down a stalled escalator, overview.

Photo: Cap on HT, night, by the vehicles.

Photo: Overhanging view of aerial sidewalk collapse.

Photo: Johnny, geared up, dusty, on HT.

Photo: Roy and Johnny hurriedly peering down a hole at their feet.

*  
From : Cory Anda Sent : Saturday, April 23, 2005 6:43 PM Subject : Trading spaces..

"Hey! Can you still hear me down there?!" Roy shouted.

There was a long pause before the injured man replied faintly through the rubble. "Mister. Don't waste....your breath.  
*cough.* I'm sure.....not."

"Me and my partner are on the way down to you. Just try to relax..."

"Don't.....have much choice in not doing that, d-do I?" said the man's voice weakily.

"That's something we're gonna change real soon." DeSoto encourage as he squeezed in through the small hole underneath the heavy slab of stone that once was the suspended mall walkway.  
"What's your name?"

"Leo. W--What's yours?"

"I"m Roy. And the one worming his way down to ya is Johnny. Are you hurt anywhere else besides your neck?"

"I-I don't know. Can't feel my legs much, because she's- ..because of all the weight...*gasp* ..on me.."

"Can you move em?" DeSoto said, pushing a large marble chuck away from his head as he crouch crawled slowly past the obstacles in his way on the escalator's bed using Johnny's feeble penlight as a guide.

"Think so.. I got two feet.. right?" Leo joked.

Roy smiled and pushed on another block in his way. Something above his head shifted and dust and sheets of leftover water rained down onto his helmeted head.

The trapped man gave a scream. So did a few others between him and Roy. They were muffled, detracted moans. DeSoto began shouting. "Cap! I hear other victims!" he reported into his radio.

##I know that, pal. Some of the conscious have relayed to us the same story. We're more than working on it. Can you tell if some of them are inside the escalator with you three?## Hank asked in a rush of interference on their private band.

"No way of knowing.. All the water still coming down's making everything echoey.." Roy said, hanging onto Johnny's shoe as the smaller paramedic in front of him slowly wormed a torturous path open in front of them.

##The gear's coming down. O2, and the splint and trauma boxes. We've got em on the new scoop stretcher. It's compact enough to reach you guys.##

"Just in the nick of time.. What would we have done if this whole mess occurred yesterday?" DeSoto mumbled through the open airwave.

Cap was grace itself and knew enough not to reply.

Several stuffy, wet minutes later, Gage encountered another obstacle. A soft one in the darkness. He spat out the penlight in his mouth, shifting it to his free glove.  
"Roy! I think I reached someone..." he gasped.

"Is it her?" Roy asked, somewhere next to his waist under the marble.

Johnny squirmed his way even further, crawling head down along the jammed toothed metal stairs. He encountered a steamy copper pool of red near an elbow. It was flowing striped along the grooves as it ran down into the mechanical works beneath the escalator. One that was far too big for hopeful encouragement. "Leo. What's she wearing? We think we're near ya!"

"B-blue..dress, and stockings.* gasp* ...I'm smelling roses.." said the man with a sob."Why did she have to go and wear that now? It smells ..so nice.." and he started crying.

Johnny fell silent as he reached into the larger gap around the broken form of the woman in front of him. He could smell the older woman's delicate perfume, too. His penlight beam found a bony white, concave shape, that looked like a curved plate, stained scarlet. And a mass of silver hair.  
It was a badly crushed skull, denuded of skin and scalp. Gage lifted up his head with a grimace when he recognized a large patch of gray tissue lying apart from it. "Roy.. this is her. Definitely dead. Leo! Can you feel me touching you? I got a dark brown courderoy pants leg in my gloves and I'm tugging it a bit.."

There was another pause in the dripping blackness. "That's....not me." whispered Leo.

Johnny reached around and found the clothes shears from his holster at his side and began cutting to expose a femoral pulse site in the limb. It revealed just a leg and nothing else. "Roy... No second victim. I got no torso.." he said in a strained voice, accepting the rope Cap and the others were feeding down to them as they worked.

"Can you still get by?" Roy said, keeping his partner focused on their task.

"Yes."

A crackled from the HT met his ears. Hank was talking again. ##Stoker's on the way down to you with a bundle of extra hydraulic braces. He's got a radio with him. He's gonna help ya move debris and those bodies out of your way!##

Roy closed his eyes and crawled past the blood and what used to be two people, groping ahead for Leo's breathing ribcage. The man's sounds of struggle were almost soothing amid the horror as returned silence surrounded the two firemen as the great pile of heavy flooring above them continued settling. "Understood ya, Cap!" reported back Roy. "We...won't be needing the saw.."

Gage focused on a vague movement in the dripping shadows. He soon laid a hand on a moving stomach. It was Leo and the dead woman's shoulders were pressing heavily down on him. Johnny shoved her off him with a slow push. Leo screamed in pain but his gasping immediately quieted and his panicky breathing began to slow down. "Easy! It's ok. I got her off of ya.." Johnny told him. "Just keep holding still. Are you bleeding from anywhere?"

Leo chuckled under the flashlight's beam as Roy directed it onto his face.  
"None that's mine, fireman. Thanks for coming so fast. Being alone like that was driving me crazy." he blinked. "I've always hated small spaces..."  
Then he cramped up when his neck gave him a spasm. "Oh!"

"Just the neck?" Gage said, running his hands over Leo's head, sides and limbs, looking for trouble spots even as he held the man still.

"Yeah." said Leo. "Not bad.. just....real annoying.." and he shivered.

Johnny found a bad laceration on Leo's lower leg. He stopped the hemorrhaging with thick layers of dressing and wraps. "All right, Leo.  
Move your feet for me.."

He did.

"That's a good sign." Roy said, reaching over to Leo's throat to take a carotid pulse after peeling a dusty glove off. "Let's see how you're doing. We've got a man coming down here with a stretcher and we'll bundle you up and get you outta here, ok?"

"Ok by me." smiled Leo. "That's real service fellas." He was sweaty and chilled.

Roy couldn't tell if that was from pipe water or perspiration, so he took the man's smile as a gauge of apparent vigor. "Johnny, 120 and rapid.  
But regular." He lifted his walkie talkie. "Cap, we're gonna need permission and then IV supplies down here."

##Lopez's got Rampart on the line. As soon as Stoker gets a clear path using those braces, that box's next! Brackett's on Channel One.##

Gage immediately flipped over frequencies. "Rampart,..*cough* This is squad 51. How do you read?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo: Cramped view from stair level looking up an escalator.

Photo: Men in hardhats working in a tight underground place.

Photo: Gage treating a man using his penlight amid a jumble of debris.

Photo: Roy stopping the bleeding from a man's head.

Photo: Johnny Gage, head down in a hole, digging.

*********************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Monday, April 25, 2005 3:59 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Sharp Report~~

Kel Brackett had completely forgotten the leather jacket he was still wearing from the parking lot. He had been almost to Joe Early's car to get his presentation items for the paramedic recertification meeting when the call came through about the disaster at the Beverly Center. Local authorities couldn't yet give him casualty numbers so Brackett put out a full alert to all hospitals within a ten mile radius around the shopping center to cover for the information gap.

He had told Dixie McCall to expect victims arriving in taxis and buses in addition to out of county non paramedic attendant ambulance services working along side their usual fleet of fire department rescue squads. Now his attention focused on the first voice to reach him from the site. "I read you loud and clear, 51. Go ahead."`

##Rampart we have a male victim approximately 30 years of age. He's suffering from a neck injury and multiple lacerations following a suspended concrete shopping mall sidewalk collapse. All bleeding has been controlled and we're working on getting him immobilized. Vitals signs are : Pulse 120 and rapid, palpable to the brachial artery only. Respirations are 20 and shallow and he's heavily diaphoretic. However, he's fully conscious. Permission to start an I.V until we can extricate him to a safer location and can get to the rest of our equipment.## said Johnny Gage.

Kel heard the sounds of moaning over the comm line from multiple victims and the hair raising distinctness of deep throated structural damage settling. "O.k, 51.  
Start an I.V. with Ringer's. Does your victim have any signs of head injury?"

##Negative, Rampart. Just the shock symptoms.##

"Administer 5 milligrams MS I.V. for pain as needed, 51. Get me a BP as soon as it's possible and transport ASAP."

##10-4, Rampart. I.V. with Ringer's and 5 mgs MS I.V. for pain as ordered.##

Kel forged ahead. "Johnny, how many people are involved at your location? Do you need a doctor out there on scene?"

##Doc, we've dozens or more entrapped with a large number of Code F's. Our injured may possibly number into the hundreds best guess. I'd say yes from what we know already. FD Command's still mobilizing heavy equipment so I don't have better figures for you yet.##

"Understood, 51. I'm coming out to you. I have a nurse remaining on the line with your HT channel for any new victims you'll find. " Brackett said loudly to be heard over the incident noise he heard pouring in over the intercom speaker. "I'll be there in twenty minutes..."

##10-4, Rampart.## said Johnny.

-  
Mike Stoker had reached Roy and Johnny's location quickly on his own rappelling rope. He opened the I.V. box and handed out an infusion set and plastic bag of Ringer's. An MS syringe was in between his teeth. "DeSoto. I've a few more of these in my pocket with a few of atropine and epinephrine for any others." he said. "Those loose sections we passed, I've jymmied tight with portajacks. The way up's still workable." He shoved the scoop containing the I.V. case and an ambu bag with an unopened yellow plastic shock sheet nearer to the two paramedics with a foot. "I'll get his O2 set up ASAP.  
Here's another flashlight.."

"Thanks, Stoker. Sometimes I think you're more paramedic than engine man nowadays.  
Leo, relief's on the way and I've got a blanket for us to wrap you in." replied Roy. "It'll only take as long as my starting an I.V. on you here into your arm."

"A-Appreciate it, fellas.." gasped Leo. "When are we getting outta here?" and he trembled underneath Roy's head stabilizing hands.

"Once we've got your neck secured in a collar and into this scoop stretcher? Less than ten minutes. Mike, this fireman at your feet, has been shoring up the passageway we all came down through. Your trip up should be short and sweet." replied Johnny,  
finishing his recheck of Leo's condition by roving feel. "That afternoon air and sunlight'll be just as wonderful as you imagine, I promise."

Leo sighed and closed his eyes. He didn't even flinch when the I.V. needle found a tourniquet encouraged vein. Leo's breathing shallowed a bit as the stress from the ordeal started taking its toll.

Mike reached for the oxygen regulator valve but he didn't yet crack it. "Is the power off yet?" he asked Gage.

"Let me find out..." Johnny said ruefully, surprised at himself for not checking on their local safety conditions. He spoke into the walkie talkie. "Squad 51 to Engine 51..."

##Go ahead, Squad 51.## came Cap's reply.

"What's the utilities status up there? We now have the O2 with us.."

##Clear to go, all the power and the restaurant's gas have been shut off.##

"O.k, Cap. Go ahead and watch for a rope tug in ten minutes when we have him bundled up." he reported. "Stoker's gonna be the point man."

##Believe me, I'm all eyes.## said Hank.

In a lower tone, Johnny spoke quietly, so Leo couldn't hear him. "How bad is everything showing for more live victims?"

##Conditions are serious. Numbers are lower than we'd hoped. Mall officials have surveillance coverage that the casino captured of exactly how many people were on the walkway when it fell. Looks like the bar saved a few by being where it was. Hang tight for more info. The chief's talking now...##

"Standing by.." said Gage and then he concentrating on helping Roy get Leo situated into his cervical collar. "Leo, here's some O2. It'll get rid of most of that stuffiness you're feeling.  
Don't try to help us at all. Let us do all the work getting you into this metal stretcher here, ok?"

Leo didn't speak but he blinked and waved a few dusty fingers in weak understanding under Johnny's new flashlight beam.

"Roy, hand me your clothes shears would ya? Leo's sleeve is caught real good in a crack between the stair teeth. I'm lying on mine."

DeSoto gave Johnny his pair of blunted scissors.

Mike Stoker took the spent pain medication syringe and I.V. needle from Roy and dropped it into the I.V. box's disposal bin. "Fellas, I'll watch his respiration rate while you two move him. I've a good line of sight from over here." he said flipping over onto his side and keeping his covered head low and away from a jutting shard of glass.

He began to dig with his gloves to create a smooth runway in the marble and plaster pieces on top of the stairs so the two paramedics had more than enough headroom in which to maneuver.

A minute later, Leo fell asleep as the pain med he had been given started working.

The three firemen soon had the dead woman and the severed leg rolled against one of the guide walls and out of the way. They used a second shock sheet to mark their locations and covered them respectfully.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Battalion One continued to update Captain Stanley. ##I used to work for Belger Cartage Service. Hank, they've got cranes we can use and they're only blocks away. Call em in.##

"You got it, chief." said Captain Stanley. He got busy mobilizing that construction crew tip as fast as he could.

Soon, two cranes smashed through the mall's lobby windows, showering glass onto the bloody floor. They were driven inside until they reached the pile of dusty debris mounded up in the middle of the rotunda and then they started working.  
Operators lowered cabled pulleys.

As each skywalk section was raised a few feet, rescuers shined lights underneath and continued looking for life amid the many dead.

Eventually, a rescuer heard sounds of an injured man below an unraised slab.

"We've got a live one!" the rescuer yelled.

A jackhammer pounded through the concrete above him. As it bore nearer, its sharp tip brushed unknowingly between the victim's left arm and ribs. Then it knifed between his legs. The frightened man feared the next one would pierce his spine. "You idiots!" he hollered. "Shut that jackhammer off!"

When the section lifted, cool air and light washed over the man's features and he fought down nausea.

He closed his eyes, not wanting to see the bodies. "Get me out of here.." he choked. "Please, just get me out of here. I can't stand it."

The man was the first live victim freed by the working crews.

Six others were located by using a police search dog held on his leash by Vince Howard. The dog, named Luke, suddenly lifted his head and began barking towards the escalator slope where Station 51's crew was known to be working beneath. "What's the matter boy?" asked Vince.

The dog started growling at a distant commotion in the shadow of dust haze still hanging over the scene. Vince lifted his radio. "Murphy, Dwyer..something odd's going over there by the casino entrance. Go check it out. Luke's on a defensive mode for some reason. Watch yourself. It may be an imminent cave in over that area or something. He's acting too strangely for it to just be victim contact behavior."

##Copy that..## replied Vince's mall partners and they moved to investigate. Along the way, they helped bystanders who were leading away the slightly wounded. The police officers showed them the best route outlined by the fire department for getting out of the mall through the restaurant's abandoned kitchen.

Luke growled louder and eagerly leaped against his trace when he felt Vince finally give him seek and scenting room.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hank Stanley had just finished acknowledging his chief's report when a low rumbled sound cascaded over the roar of the lifting cranes. He saw the broken pile of debris draping over the escalator, suddenly start V-ing downhill in a further collapse. He could just see Mike Stoker's head start to poke out as he began to drag the scoop stretcher out of the top landing hole. He didn't hear the danger over all the noise and din coming from the two lifting cranes. "No! Mike, get back!"

But the stretcher struggling engineer didn't hear him.

Captain Stanley dashed forward and shoved Stoker back down the escalator. Then his head shot up in alarm as the sound of bolts snapping zinged around him.

He felt a change bodily through the air as something nearby in the darkness around Mike ripped free from its moorings. He didn't wait to see what it was, and started scrambling deeper.

Cap threw himself onto the escalator stairs inside the hole alongside the scoop stretcher as the opening leading to the outside suddenly sealed off with a roar. Pancaking heavily to the floor, another skywalk section spewed a gust of wind and a huge dust cloud as it slid to the mall floor over their location.

Then, followed a sickening silence.

"Cap! You ok?!" shouted Stoker as he grabbed his captain's jacket and hauled him over onto his back.  
"Yeah.. d*mned fool construction workers.. They're hurrying too much! Now WE gotta got dug outta here.." coughed Cap. "Come on, let's get back down to Roy and Johnny to give them the bad news. How's your noggin? I tackled you pretty hard there.."

"I'm fine. So's Leo. I still got my hand on him."  
Cap told the Battalion Chief what had happened over his radio.

##Of all the-- Ok, Hank. We'll get you and your men out as soon as we can. Keep in constant contact with me through all developments as you check out your situation. ##

"Will do, Engine 51, out."

Roy, Johnny, Mike and Cap met in a ring of faces above Leo's sleeping one under an umbrella of torchlight. "Any way out the bottom of the escalator?" Cap asked Gage.

Johnny wasn't too pleased after learning that they were all trapped like all the other mall victims under the debris pile."We haven't gone down that far yet. We stopped at Leo's level, remember?" he gestured.

Cap sighed in frustration, grunting as he tried to get his bulk comfortable in a space that was too small for him. "Ok, exploration'll be our new priority. Stoker. Stay with him. Shout if his breathing changes for the worse.."

"Right, Cap."

Johnny, Roy and Hank slowly untied their ropes from their jacket belts and they started the slow process of crawling down the buried escalator. "Hey! I think I'm seeing daylight..." shouted Johnny over his back, from where he lay in the lead on his stomach.

"Where?! I don't see any. Oh, there it is. Let's go ch--" began Hank.

A sharp report and echo ripped through the chucks of debris above their heads with a whine of seared air and cut off his words. All three men ducked, fearing another cave in. "What was that?!" Johnny spat in surprise.

"I don't know. I'm gonna go ahead and look.." said Stanley. He inched forward and stuck his head through a small hole shining in full sunlight. "Maybe it's one of the diggers trying to dig us out already."

*Ping!!* bit another odd sound. Johnny watched as Cap suddenly jerked as a small boulder of "ceiling" gave way in front of him in a cloud of dust, making him drop his helmeted head to his elbows in a protective stomach down move.

"Watch it, Cap!" Gage yelled. "You all right?"

Hank didn't react.

"Cap?!" shouted Roy, squirming beside Gage along the small cramped space in the sunlight in a sudden panic. "Can you hear us?!"

"What's wrong with him?" hissed Johnny as the two of them clambored up to their captain's side. "He's seems like he's out cold! But I swear nothing fell on him."

"I don't know yet."  
Roy's probing hands slid lower underneath Cap's jacket after they had assured themselves that he was still breathing. They came away bright with blood. "What th--?"

Johnny drew out his shears and cut away Hank's shirt over that place. He startled over a wound that was cratered like a geyser's mouth, bubbling out air and blood. "Roy? Get your head down! This is a gunshot wound!!"

As if to taunt his words, another ricchochet hit very near where they were pinned, through the hole of sunlight and the whizzing bullet spat angrily around them as it spent its velocity before embedding itself into the softer debris pile over their heads.

Roy and Johnny unceremoniously hauled the unconsious Cap, face down, back into the escalator's smothering darkness by his pants belt. "Mike, get back! That noise's not debris settling out! It's gunfire. And Cap's been hit!" Johnny shouted.

"What!?" said the startled engineer.

"Shhh!! Get out an occlusive dressing. He's got a sucking chest wound, Mike. Right here under my hand." Johnny hissed, suddenly whispering to hide their location. Roy was already handling securing a good airway on Cap using an oral one from his turnout pocket. "Gimme the other O2 line off Leo's tank. On second thought give me that ambu too, in case Cap decides to stop breathing on us. He's out real deep."

Stoker moused down and did what he was told.

A moving shadow covered the daylit hole forty feet away from them, making the three firemen freeze their positions right where they lay on the tooth stairs in fright.

::Oh mother of..:: thought Gage, as he started looking up. The gut feeling about who might be there with them wasn't a pleasant one. *  
From : patti keiper Sent : Wednesday, April 27, 2005 3:40 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Pinhole Operations.. A grizzled man of fifty whirled on his partner in crime and thrust the arm that was still holding the smoking silencer down forcefully. "Mugsy! Knock it off right now! Put your piece away! What in blazes do you think you're doing ?!" he said from behind a pillar in the rotunda a short distance away from where the mob of firefighters, rescuers and crane operators were working.

"Lance, it's that d*mned dog of da fuzz's. The one they're using to search.  
I swear I saw him stalkin us from that hole. I saw his black fur coat, I swear. If we don't put a bullet in his head, he'll spoil da plan even before we get inside the casino." said the younger thug with the twisted nose and uneven crew cut. "You know how they're trained to sniff out hidden guns.."

"Are you as stupid as you look? No, don't answer that." fumed the gray haired ex con. "Lance, you're definitely not thinking again. We can't waste the mutt out in the open like this."

"Listen to me, Mugsy, no one will think anything of a d*mn bleeding dog once we nail him. There's too much danger and instability around this area. You saw a part of that whole mess cave in. We'll bury him in junk.  
Then we can still circle around and get right back into the wall ventilation shaft. No one's paying attention to us since we put these on." Lance insisted, gripping the construction worker hard hat he was wearing that matched the team of construction workers milling about on the rubble with blow torches and shovels. "I'll just put a clever bead on him at close range."

"Ok.. ok,..you win. Anything to calm ya down. Ok, Lance. Go have a look but don't use ANY lead unless you're face to face with that mutt and he's slobberin on ya. And I mean it, Lancey boy. Get it into your thick skull. No more guns out in the open! Not even when we get the high sign from the rest of da guys to slip inta the casino to start knocking it off."

"Ain't that why we sabotaged those sidewalks to come down in the first place? To give us some working cover in case we had ta knock off a few people wid these.." he said, patting the L shaped bulge of his gun crammed half hazardly into his dusty shirt pocket. "I definitely got it now, boss."  
"You sure didn't a minute ago."

"Cover me.." said the eager Lance with a scarred eye wink. He started making his way back up to the hole that he had spotted the black colored movement within, using a shovel and fake digging to blend in whenever an alert rescuer glanced up in his direction. "Once we get that roving fuzz dog outta the way, it'll be smooth sailin', boss. He's the only complication left, between us and millions, and you know it."

Mugsy mumbled to himself, "Cover him, he says.. Cover him.  
Why did I ever agree to school this sorry excuse of a joe inta the thieving business while I was still stuck in the slammer?  
He's hopeless!!" Another mental voice in his head replied back.  
::Because his uncle'll mark ya for a driveby hit if you don't.::

Right then, a piercing whistle split the noisy air from a fireman wearing a white helmet and workers everywhere suddenly froze in place. Even the two laden cranes became still and every single person in the area fell silent.

Mugsy dashed over to the foot of the debris pile. "Lance! It's another listening check. Hold still up there, ya moron, or you'll stand out like a sore--"

A passing fire captain with the number 99 on his black helmet glanced up at him while walking by with a handful of mall blueprints.  
"Problem, mister?"

Mugsy put on his best street smile. "No problem, fireman, sir. It's just that my partner's part deaf from running da cranes tonight. I was just giving him a heads up for the check, sir."

"I see." said the older fireman. "Well, tell him to keep his eyes out for signs of an engine company, number 51, up there. They've been pinned inside the escalator track and may find a way out somewhere near your buddy up there. Have your man radio in if he spots any sign of movement."

"Will do, sir. I'll tell da whole crew while I'm at it. Don't you worry."

The fire captain nodded and hurried away with his plans of the electrical infrastructure, ducting and pipes layout of the rotunda area beneath the disaster area. "Be ready for when we break through into the escalator from the casino vault. There's a maintenance tunnel that we're gonna use that runs in between to get all of 51's trapped men and their victim out. We just got the casino manager's blessing to use their secured access routes."

Mugsy's eyes bugged out but he quickly turned away before his plot hungry, surprised face, could betray him.

Lance, in the meantime, was complaining loudly to himself up on the debris pile where he stood with his hands on his hips while he impatiently waited for the survivor listening check to be over. "No pieces, he says. No wastin' the cop dog out in the open, he says. What does an honest crook like me haveta do to get any fun in anymore?  
Do I haveta start pickin the pockets of all these dead people lying around to even get somethin to eat tonight?" His litany of grievances against his fellow criminals kept on as his frustration grew.

Some of it carried into the hole and down the escalator to the trapped firemens' ears. Johnny Gage held out a shushing hand and frowned as he overheard the now oddly suspicious sounding non rescuer voice. He kept his other one on Cap's neck, monitoring his pulse.

In a flash of inspiration, Mike Stoker pulled out his HT, switched it to emergency channel nine and then he bound its talk button firmly,  
with a thick strap of I.V. tape so it would remain open and on . He tossed the radio neatly up the escalator until it landed just short of the sunny spot Cap had discovered.

Gage nearly cried out a warning when he figured out what Stoker was up to. But then nodded in affirmation fiercely in agreement.

Roy was busy keeping the drugged Leo quiet and still with soft whispering.

Johnny lifted his handy talkie to his ear and started listening on channel nine as the Stoker's open line began registering. ::What an idea.  
Stoker, you're simply wasted working our engine. You shoulda made cap a long time ago.:: thought Gage.

##......six guys to knock off a joint as small as this one, he says...## came Lance's complaining voice. ##Not everyday you get to stir up some real trouble like making those sidewalks come down...Now if only that d*mned mutt would stick out his head out again like a nice doggy so I can blow it clean off his stinking, fully police trained shoulders!! ## boomed the voice as the cacaphony of rescue work suddenly resumed overhead,  
releasing the criminal to freely voice his frustrated opinions again.

## ...Lance,....## came a second quieter thick New York accented voice.  
##..You're not seeing anything and you know it. Get your butt back down here. I think I'm onta something real big. Seems these fireboys are gonna do all of the work FOR us so we won't have to...##

##Really, Mugsy? Ok,.. I-I ..I think I got him though. There's blood on these marble rocks here. The dog's gotta be dead. I saw him drop real fast after I shot up this here hole real good..##

##..Fine, .. That's great. Now get down here before I crack ya up on the side of the head and leave ya for all these rescuers ta find and deal with ya.. Listen close ya big lug. The Treasure Chest's gonna deliver right into our ever lovin greedy hands, my good man. And soon, too. Come down and gimme your ear.##

##Coming, boss.. Now what's so all fired important that's got ya all steamed up like a---##

The voices over the open HT faded into resumed sounds of loud rescue work as the two mystery men left the range of Stoker's HT's transmitter.

Mike Stoker leapt up the escalator steps and snatched his HT back down, turning it over to 51's rescue channel. "Engine 51 to Battalion One! Did you copy that? Those were perpetrators with guns in the area up to funny business. But we've a Code I down with a gunshot wound. He's critical! Over.."

##Just relax son, we heard but we don't completely understand. Are you saying you've a fireman who's been shot up?##

Gage broke into the channel on his own radio. "Yes, Battalion.  
Our captain. He's taken a bullet to a lung. We're safe for the moment but there's at least six of these guys running around by you! Listen to the recording again and then tell the police ASAP.  
Those two we caught on the air are only a few who're directly responsible for this whole mall disaster!"

##Battalion, Squad 51, 10-4. Stepping up your rescue's priority.##

Gage continued transmitting. "Chief, there's a hole to the outside that's too small to break through that Cap found. We need more medical supplies to handle him or he'll go sour on us real fast."

##Where son?##

"Watch for a fireman's overcoat! We're tossing it out!" shouted Stoker. He crawled to the sunny hole in the debris pile and peeled off his coat and he kicked it outside holding his radio's handstrap in his teeth. He watched it tumble down the debris pile even as he put his helmet back onto his filthy head.

##Got you pinpointed boys. Hang on. Give me a report of your man's injuries! I've just learned that a doctor sent for is only a minute away.##

Mike sighed where he lay in gratitude, and he let his dusty head thunk down onto the escalator steps dotted wet with Cap's blood."I'm glad that worked.."

"And I'm glad we're all safe..." Gage echoed, turning back to tending Cap's wound and airway. "Stoker, come help me prop Cap semi seated.  
He'll breathe easier that way. The bullet didn't exit so we've just this single pneumo of his to deal with. So far, both lungs are still inflating from what I can make out, but that's gonna change real fast. He's got a lot of bright red froth present in his mouth and nose and his breathing rate's already over 20 a minute."

DeSoto picked up his radio. "Not good. Battalion One, Squad 51. We're located on stair set number seventy two. The hole we reached ya through's been punched through a break in one of the escalator's outer walls. Nothing short of a whole night's blow torching will make that hole any bigger I'm afraid. It's only a head wide."

##We've an alternative, 51. Hang 's a tunnel that's accessible beneath the escalator stairs that connects with the casino nearby. We're making arrangements to get to you through there. The stair plates themselves will cut apart easily for freeing you. I'm estimating we'll be at your side in less than fifteen minutes. As long as it takes to cut through the steel decking inside a vault's secondary door that leads into that tunnel.## said Battalion One. "DeSoto, go meet your doctor at your hole's breach. He's being shown the way to it."

"10-4, Battalion." said Roy eagerly. "Johnny? Did you hear that?" he grinned.

"It's about time Brackett arrived. Hey, Leo, naptime's over. The doctor's in!" he smiled. He touched Leo's forehead with drumming fingers.

"Hmm?" sighed Leo. "Terrific.. I'll tell my wife to bake him a ..a..cake.." he grimaced sleepily from inside his cervical collar. "yeah, that's what I'll..."  
Leo fell back asleep at once but his face was now truly relaxed for the first time since the firemen came.

Kel Brackett's welcome shadow blocked out the sunlight. Two blood pressure cuffs and another O2 tank were firmly shoved inside and onto the escalator's steps by work gloved hands. "Roy? Johnny? I've been updated. Come get these and the new tank. Gimme your fireman's vitals first. The others said that he took a bullet into the chest.."

"Mid left lateral, doc!" shouted Roy. "Breath sounds still on both sides.."

"Is he breathing?" asked Kel, pressing his face against the torn metal hole to try and see around the corner.

"Yeah, but rapidly. Borderline." said Gage. "Bloody froth's now becoming apparent in larger and larger amounts."

"Could be just a hemopneumothorax.. That's better than a tension pneumo any day of the week."grumbled Brackett. "How's your other man doing?"

"He's stable. Sleeping." Stoker replied, quickly accepting all the medical gear rescuers were handing him around Brackett's shoulders.

Brackett nodded. "Leave him be then after the first set of vitals. We've gotta get those I.V.s going into your second victim."

"Doc, it's Captain Stanley.." said Roy. "Knowing who he is'll help out here."

"He's forty two years old at one hundred ninety five pounds if I remember correctly. It sure does, Roy. Thanks. Start two large bore of normal saline on him in both arms. I don't know yet if we're gonna have to rapid sequence intubate him or not. We'll see how he does after we've got some light fluids into him and a whole lot more of that O2. The d*mn EKG monitor won't fit inside, so I guess we'll have to do without it."

"No we won't, doc.." said Stoker. "We can go get him and lay him in front of you, wounded side towards you, so you can see him for yourself. The patched lines will reach in that far."

"Get it done, boys. I've got the defib right here that can work for him in the same manner a little faster. I wanna see whether or not that bullet has compromised his pericardium. Any signs of jugular vein distension?"

"Not yet.." replied Roy.

"Better and better. Get him up to me, pronto.." said Kel, gesturing hasty hands through the ragged hole. He only moved aside long enough for brightly lit construction lamps to be inserted past him from their connected portable generator.

All the firemen squinted painfully in the blasting glare. But they were grinning, too, for Cap was gonna live.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Battalion One stood in the doorway of the Treasure Chest Casino next to the casino manager. The small lobby of the casino was dotted with medical people and firemen caring for the walking wounded either seated or lying on the carpeting.

He extended his hand out to him. "I wanna thank you for opening your business to us, sir."

"Anytime. Anything else I can do besides getting you that vault tunnel access beneath the rotunda?" asked the well dressed casino man.

"Not at the moment. I'll give you the names and numbers of exactly who's coming into those secured areas of yours for your surveillance people. I've a man coming with that information right now."

"Thank you, sir." said the manager. "But you can have him work with Mr. Blaze here. He's our surveillance head. Please, use as many security guards as you need, too, to handle your equipment. Some of them are first aid trained and are available to help you stretcher out your people. And all of them know the way to where you're going. They have to remain present throughout your rescue attempt. The vault's a very sensitive area."

The radio head set festooned Mr. Blaze and Battalion One shook hands.

"I understand. We'll follow your procedures to the letter, sirs." said Battalion. "Let's just hope that you can distinguish all your casino guests from those we detected earlier in the mall as being highly suspect. One of our men's been shot by them."

"Believe me, our cameras miss nothing. Even more so now that we've been alerted by the police." reassured the casino manager.

Right then, Vince Howard and Luke paced up. "We'll be keeping post at the main door, gentlemen. No one with a gun will get through. Not with him standing watch." said the streetcop, pointing to the dark coated German Sheperd seated at his feet.

The group of men glanced around at the glittering casino surrounding them. Not a single slot machine player looked up or acknowledged the wounded being tended near them by fully uniformed firepeople.

"Is this a normal reaction from everybody?" Battalion asked Vince.

"Oh, yeah. Medicals happen in the casino all the time . And the regulars get real used to that. I saw a man suffer a fatal heart attack, falling out of his chair once. The player sitting next to his machine simply took over the man's vacated spot and started playing on his credits without even looking behind her to see how he was doing. Gamblers are real weird like that." said the policeman. "They either ignore the clearly obvious, or they cross themselves on behalf of the sick or dead ones leaving by ambulance."

The chief frowned uneasily after learning that.

The casino manager and the head of surveillance both nodded in agreement, enjoying his reaction. "This way, please.." they said after controlling their exchanged glance of humor.

The group of rescuers and the firemen were suddenly flanked by four security guards wearing ear bud radios who indicated the way to go silently.

A female security officer held out an electronic name card which triggered a magnetic door that opened onto a long metal lined hallway. "The way in's at the end. But hold up a minute, I have to call down a camera first, gentlemen.." And she triggered a hidden toggle in a sleeve. "Security to 100 and Surveillance."

##Go for 100.##

"LACoFire's entering secured hallway. Six in number."

##100 copies.##

"Ok.." she smiled. "We're clear to go. I'll be here to swipe open the doors with my access card for any stage you need during the rescue. I'm the one going into Softcount with you. Mr. Blaze, if you'll go ahead of me." said the security guard.

"Thanks, Peri."

"My pleasure, sir.." she replied, holding open a second thick door leading into the mantrap area before the vault room.

Mr. Blaze went inside with the rescuers but not the casino manager.

He went back to talk with Vince Howard to learn more about the supposed heist that was planned to happen sometime soon in the mall that day by the mysterious rotunda shooters.

Peri waited until every fireman was crowded into the L shaped three-way doored access space. "The door behind us will have to be fully closed before I can open this one. Only one of these doors can open at any one time. Just let it shut behind you."

Marco Lopez, Chet Kelly, along with the four others carrying a K-12 and wall cracking gear shoved up tightly against each other in the small space to allow the outer door to relock itself while Peri called out again to her dispatcher and the surveillance room. "100, ready to enter cart storage and Softcount.." she stated into her radio's microphone.

The hidden voice acknowledged. "100 copies. Entering Softcount."

Mr. Blaze surged ahead into a room full of people who were counting large sums of money on a clear acrylic table located in the center of the room. They wore dark navy tunics with no pockets and they looked up in surprise at the sight of fully dressed firefighters entering the vault area.

The black tunic count supervisor stepped forward to Mr. Blaze. "Is there a 10-92, Mr. Blaze?"

"No, there isn't a fire. But a walkway's collapsed out in the mall, trapping a few firefighters inside a buried escalator. We're going to go get them using the old utility tunnel behind that wall.." he pointed.

"We'll move the dollar bill acceptor carts out of your way then.."  
smiled the vault supe. She motioned for several workers to leave the sorting table to push the wheeled, pock hole covered metal carts out of the way of the steel panelled wall Mr. Blaze had pointed to.

Kelly and Marco, meanwhile, were goggle eyeing the money bundles sitting in clear acrylic trays on the money sorting machines and in the workers' hands and all the eye bud domed cameras that almost completely covered the ceiling inside the windowless room. "Man,  
look at all the bread, Marco. Even just one bundle of that and we'll won't have to work for an entire year..." Kelly whispered.

"Look at the muscles on the vault guards, Chet. If you try anything you won't leave TRACTION for a whole year.. Mind your own business.  
Johnny and Roy need us to be fast focused for Cap's sake, remember?"

"I can admire from afar, can't I?" Chet asked Peri.

"I guess.." she smiled. "Even we can't touch the cash."

Soon, the wall was courdoned off with canvas tarps and the saws bit deeply into the metal sheeting concealing the old access tunnel which led to the escalator's housing room. The high pitched whine they made cut sharply through the noise of all the money sorters chattering and the white noise hum of the money sorting machines.

Lopez tried not to look up as one of the camera domes lenses rotated to focus on their cutting point. He felt more on display than he had ever felt before in his entire life.

"You get used to it.." said Peri. "Keep in mind that they're here to help as well as to watch all the money."

"Are those other two guards in the room watching the sorters so that they don't steal anything?" asked Kelly, swallowing dryly.

"No, they're watching to make sure money doesn't fall on the floor to end up under a table or machine someplace where the cameras can't see it anymore. The counts will be off then." she explained. "It's up to Surveillance and the cameras to watch for wrong doing. Not us."

"Oh.."

Lopez elbowed Chet for being forward and he changed the subject while they waited for the wall crews to cut down to the hidden tunnel door. "Are you one of these first aider guards Mr. Blaze's manager was talking about?"

"I am. I help out now and then when I can."

"Good, cause we may need you as a go-for between our firemen and your Mr. Blaze here. I don't think our radio frequencies match up enough on our radioes to let us talk to each other."

"She can do that.." affirmed Mr. Blaze without turning around from where he was watching the other firefighters work.

Marco and Chet startled. "He's sure got good ears."

"That's why he's head of surveillance..." Peri winked.

Soon, the metal sheeting of the vault room was folded down out of the way by eager boots and Marco and Chet promptly forgot about the female security guard and the James Bond like Mr. Blaze.

Lopez swept his radio out of his pocket. "HT 51 to Squad 51.  
We're halfway there. We're into the tunnel at stairway number..."

Mr. Blaze spoke up. "H-Vac Maintenance says this tunnel reaches stairs level ninety, Mr. Kelly.."

"Ninety.. We're breaking through now with plenty of help.." Kelly said loudly, impatient to see those who were trapped. "How's he doing?" he asked before Battalion One could.

##Cap's vitals are holding, Chet. Just concentrate on getting us outta here..## Gage said half amused. ##Brackett's taking a good look at him now. We'll let you know as soon as we know.##

Kelly sighed in relief and then he got a shiver. He looked uneasily at Blaze while he whispered fearfully to Lopez, "Wait a minute,  
how did he know my name?"

Peri cleared her throat as she held the light a firefighter had handed her to light the space behind the wall. "He read your nametag.."  
she said sotto voce.

"Oh.. Geeshh." Marco laughed. Chet glared at him.

Mr. Blaze suddenly tilted his head at an incoming transmission,  
and so did Peri's. It wasn't loud enough for either Chet nor Marco to overhear. But their reactions were instantaneous.

Peri spoke up suddenly serious and hard. "I'll stay, sir."

"Then I'll take one of these two. Kelly, come with me. There's been a development. We need you down in Surveillance ASAP."

"But..."

Peri took hold of Chet's arm. "When Mr. Blaze says go. You go.."  
she said.

Chet went.

"Yes, Mr. Kelly. We need you and your radio. You yourself, don't have to physically do anything. But I am going to ask you to never talk about what you'll see in the room where we're heading into.  
It's all classified information."

"Chet'll be good for that. He forgets everything.." piped up an eager Marco.

"Good enough." said Blaze, holding open the Softcount door for the curly haired fireman.

"See you later, Chet.." said Peri. "I'll keep you posted about your friends."

"You do that.." Kelly said feeling more than intimidated by the whole casino feeling in the vault. The atmosphere had a pall like he would imagine the secret service would have on any protected government place.

His last sight of the vaulted room was sets of curious eyes from all the casino vault sorters as they straightened out and organized any wrinkled bills they found from the cash boxes they had keyed open.  
It wasn't long before Battalion contacted Gage over the radio to tell them to watch out for blow torch fallout from stair set ninety as plates were removed to gain access between them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Squad 51, Battalion One. 10-4. We've got Leo and Cap well away from that stair section. We're set for ya." said Johnny.

Right then, Brackett gave a shout. "Roy! Get over here. I think Stanley's coming to.." His gloved hands were examining the bloody hole in Hank's chest around the EKG wires attached to him through the small sunlit tear in the escalator wall. Stoker was holding Cap's side pressed against it to give the doctor the best working angle possible.

"On my way.." said DeSoto.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo: A construction worker, grinning.

Photo: A master mind criminal, dressed as a construction worker.

Photo: Brackett getting onto a paramedic helicopter.

Photo: Casino tables.

Photo: The casino manager, amused.

Photo: The casino slot gaming floor.

Photo: A security guard sitting at a surveillance console.

Photo: A long metal lined hallway.

Photo: A vault full of money.

Photo: Stacks of money.

Photo: A casino surveillance camera dome.

Photo: Chet in turnout, working in darkness.

Photo: A surveillance head man frowning.

Photo: A surveillance room.

*  
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 06:26:03 -0700 (PDT) From: "Jeff Seltun" Subject: Relay..

Johnny Gage had his hands full of moaning Cap. He was hard pressed to keep the foamy red tinged oxygen mask fastened over Hank's nose and mouth. "Keep still a sec until you're awake all the way. Cap?! Listen to me. You've been hurt real bad by a-- Roy, he spat his oral out a few seconds ago. You talk to him. We've got to concentrate to keep both our hands over this chest wound. Air's getting in even faster now that he's breathing harder."

Dr. Brackett and Johnny worked fast to tape a strong three sided seal over the gaping gun shot wound shining in the sunlight.

Roy raised Cap's shoulders gently onto his knees without getting into his partner's way to ease Hank's sense of suffocation from the blood sitting in his chest. "I got him.. Hank.. It's Roy. You with me yet? I'm gonna hold ya still until you are all the way.."

Brackett spoke sharply, "Stoker, keep that side of his as near to me as you can! We've almost sealed this off good enough..."

"How's that?" Mike asked, straining to lift Cap's ribcage high enough off of the metal stairs for wrapping.

"Perfect.." said Brackett, working intently.

Cap coughed wetly and suddenly made a face of pain at the jarring he was going through while doctor, paramedic and fireman taped him up rapidly.

"That's it, Cap. We're done. Welcome back.." smiled Roy. He angled a penlight into Cap's eyes to check their responses with Stanley's return to consciousness.

Gage finally rocked back onto his heels. "We got that dressing back into place. It's holding, doc. But for how long?" he frowned, then he put on a grin for Cap's benefit as the world came slowly into focus for Stanley.

"Who punched me?" Hank asked through the reddened oxygen mask. "My side's hurting like a real son of a-- wait a minute, we're still under the debris pile.." he remembered.

"Yes, we are Cap.. How's your breathing coming?" Roy asked.

"Like I'm....not getting enough.." admitted Hank. "*cough* Come on, tell it to me straight. How'd I get hurt?"

Johnny and Roy and Stoker and Kel all exchanged looks of who's gonna break it to him. But Johnny finally relented. "It was a bullet, Cap. Now that you know I'm not gonna lecture ya as to how important it is for you to lay absolutely still. Dr. Brackett's here and he's working on ya best he can until we can all get ya outta here. They're already blow torching us free just above us from a side tunnel." Gage said, draping a tarp over Cap's head so the sparks from the swiftly cutting tool wouldn't land on Cap's face and be further ignited by the oxygen.

"I've...been..shot?! By ......whom?" whispered Cap.

"We don't know that yet. But the nearby casino's working on that.  
We just got word from Battalion One of possible video coverage."

"Of all the stupid ways to get laid up on the...hhhh." Hank began to shiver and his skin grayed a bit. Against his will, his head sagged back onto Roy's lap. "How's Leo?"

"Fine, Cap." said Roy. "We just need to fuss over you."

"And what's going on outside? Any more survivors?" Hank said without opening his eyes. His voice was gurgling.

"Still too soon to tell. Heard about a dog working a while ago.." DeSoto said truthfully.

"That's...that's good. They got him here real .....fast.."

"Hank. Do I have your permission to treat you? Surgically if necessary?"  
asked Brackett.

"Doc,...you don't have to ask that yet. I'm...awake aren't I?" said a woozy Stanley.

"Cap, answer the man. It's important." said Gage seriously and loud.

"Yeah.. I guess so. But actually, I feel like ...like ..I'm doing pretty good.. Gimme my radio.." Cap ordered weakly.

"Now, Cap,..that can wait...." said Johnny, turning up the flow on Cap's I.V.s.

"Shut up, Gage. Nothing's better than a personal audio on a rescue scene this bad. There's a lotta stunned firefighters out there pulling out a whole lotta corpses right now. Let me show them that there's one less they'll haveta deal with! ..In me... Now hand ..*gasp* ..it over.."

Mike Stoker flipped to the general all call and set the HT down on Cap's sweating chest. At a nod, he kept his hand on the talk button and pressed it.

Hank opened his eyes as wide as he could. "This is Station 51. Wanted to show you all that we appreciate the personal attention being given for digging ...us out. We have a live one with us and he's doing good. About me? I'm talking to ya, aren't I? K- Keep up the good work. I'm proud of what ya all are doing for us out there...I couldn't ask for a better set of people to bail my whole station out of a tough spot. E-Engine 51 out.."

Cap waved that he was finished and Mike took back his radio. "Thanks, pal.  
Had to be done. For morale's sake, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." said Stoker. "Listen.. They're cheering out there.."

"Good." smiled Cap. Then his face lost all expression and animation and his eyes closed softly.

"Cap?" Roy asked. The heartbeat sounding on the monitor suddenly sped up ominously and Hank's face turned dusky. "Doc, he's not breathin.."  
he said after a fast check by feel and a careful listening.

"Bag him, Roy. Gage..get out a paralytic agent. 0.10 mg/kg of Vecuronium IVP. We're not delaying anymore for our secured endotrach." Brackett snapped. "He's probably just gotten tired. So we're going to take over for him. That's it, Roy.  
Get him real pink. He's not quite there yet. Johnny, when you're through injecting that med, tube him. Stoker, clean out that blood in his oropharynx first."

Kel handed Gage a laryngoscope and he ansed uncomfortably through the hole as he shoved the drum end of a stethoscope into multiple places over Cap's chest assessing his assisted breath sounds. "As I suspected, the left lung's gone quiet, boys. And he's deviating. Looks like I'll have to insert a full chest tube. Not just the needle decompression we were hoping for."

"What? Here? You can't get to him well enough through that hole!" Johnny reasoned as he taped off the endotracheal airway he had finished positioning.  
Roy now used his ambu bag through it.

"No other choice, Johnny. We all know he'll just get worse without one.  
I've got a thoracic tray right here. So scrub up, Gage. You've just been drafted as a nurse." Kel barked.

"These conditions are filthy, doc.." Roy said, pumping pure oxygen into Cap's paralzyed form.

"No matter. Antibiotics are wonderful these days, Roy. I'll just double his dose. In fact, I'll begin some right now. Is he allergic to any?"

"To sulfas, and penicillins.. and I think some of the mycins.." Stoker said quickly.

"Any others?" Brackett grinned.

"No..." said Roy and Johnny at the same time, nervously.

"Relax, guys. A chest tube's no big deal. Think of it as a very large catheter.  
Cause that's what it is. I'm not completely cracking his chest and you guys are already handling his breathing problem. He's covered..." the doc smiled.  
"Start him on a 300 milli ESN, microdrip I.V., wide open. Are you set yet, Gage?"

"Yeah,.." said Johnny, holding up a pair of sterile gloved hands.

"So am I. Let's get started shall we? Stoker, I hope you have a strong stomach."

"I've seen nothing yet that's gotten in the way of working." said Mike.

"Good, cause this rod and blade's over a foot long. Hold that light just as you are. I'm skipping the anesthetic cause he doesn't need it." said Brackett, draping sterile sheets over Cap's hastily betadine cleaned wound that was still pressed up against the hole in the escalator wall. "Cutting now.." and Kel made his incision to expose rib cartilage.  
"Johnny, hand me some gauze. Lots of it. Roy, give him some epinephrine.  
1 mg 1/10,000. After this is in, he'll drain better if he's been dried out."

"Got it, doc." said DeSoto. "That and the piggyback antibiotic."

"Ok, Stoker, I'm punching through his chest wall in a few seconds. Hold him tight so he doesn't move. I have to push pretty hard."  
and Dr. Brackett unpackaged the chest blade and rod to ready it for use. "Johnny, get his tube and my 5.0 suture set out. I'll reach for them in a few seconds. We'll worry about the vacuum jar later. Getting that lung reinflated's more important than being tidy."

Johnny got out of Brackett's light as the ER doc made his sharp carving stab to gain entrance into Cap's chest cavity. Holding the site open with a small spreader, Brackett flicked his fingers for Johnny's chest tube. He got it. Kel threaded it in six inches until he was rewarded with escaping air and a flood of blood down the inch thick tube, which Johnny had end sealed off with an OB clamp.

"That's right, Johnny. He's gotta lose all that pulmonary blood slowly. Take a BP. It can't be allowed to fall too low as I let this hemorrhaging out to reinflate that lung or he'll develop arrythmias. It's ok to break your sterile field now." Kel said, stitching the other end of the chest tube securely into place. "I'm finished."

Stoker took over for Roy to continue breathing for Cap using the bag valve attached to his airway. DeSoto kept track of what Hank's left lung was doing while Brackett made tube adjustments and continued draining Cap's chest clear of artifact fluid and air.

"Doc, he's eight four over fifty." said Johnny.

"Fair enough. If it drops below eighty, give him another dose of epinephrine.  
Mike, he may start gasping for you at any time. The vecuronium will soon be wearing off. Let him make attempts on his own and help him when he needs it. I just gave him Versed so he won't remember from moment to moment that he's intubated. Don't be frightened of it. He won't know he's feeling uncomfortable from that airway at all. That tube has to stay in as insurance against any further collapse in the injured lung."

"Ok, doc. There's the first one already.." he said as Cap's chest began to rock up under his hand.

Roy looked up from his stethoscope check. "Dr. Brackett. I've got breath sounds on both sides now. And the bubbling in his trachea's gone."

"Figured it was just saliva.. Sealing this off right now, nothing more's evacuating for the moment." said the doctor. "Good going. There wasn't enough blood telling me that the bullet had gotten down as far as his left lung. Ok. Johnny. Go ahead and completely close off the patch over his gunshot wound. We don't need to have the one side open on that anymore. A complete close off's better until he gets into exploratory surgery to handle a repair job."

Under Stoker's hands, Cap began to moan unawares, as if he was talking.

"Look at that, he's giving orders already." Gage quipped, taking another fast blood pressure.

The others smiled and Brackett wasn't the only one who laughed.

"Ninety eight over seventy two." reported Johnny.

"Right on schedule." said Brackett. "He'll be on a bird for another day until that chest finishes clotting up. Take turns bagging him until we get to a resuscitator. The easier, the better. He's profusing well enough for real shallow assists. He doesn't need them any deeper."

Right then, stair plate ninety clattered through as a last cut was made with a torch. Marco Lopez's head stuck through the rectangular gap.  
"How's it going guys? Ready to get outta there?" he beamed. Then his face fell into a look of worry when he spied Cap being actively ventilated.

"He's stable. That's just for a fresh chest tube." Roy reassured him. "He's waking up bit by bit in stages. So don't fret. See?" and he pointed to the EKG monitor that was visible from Marco's angle.  
It bleeped evenly in the eighties in unadulterated sinus rhythm.

"I'll tell the others. The lieutenant in here says that it'll take us about twenty minutes to burn through enough stairs to get an opening large enough for a scoop stretcher for Cap." said Marco.

"Got any water?" Gage said, licking his lips.

"Yeah, hang on a minute. These casino folks sure are quick. Anything we need,.. and its suddenly right there...." said Lopez's head as he withdrew to collect a large thermos with water in it.

"What's the tally so far?" asked Roy, taking his turn on the water container.

"Six alive. Not including him." said Marco, pointing to Leo. "The dog located them pretty quick. Most are still being dug out. The minor injuries are being treated in the casino in triage before they ship out. Vince says hi."

Captain Stanley made a noise immediately after that comment.

"I thought you said he wasn't awake." Marco frowned.

"He isn't. Not mentally at any rate. He's a little looped on meds right now because of this." said Stoker, tapping the bag that was giving Cap another slow breath under his hand.

"Oh..." said Marco in faint disgust. "Glad I'm not him. I'll be back. They've just gassed up the next torch and I gotta move out of the way.  
See ya fellas later.."

"Later. Thanks for the water." Johnny said with a grin. "Doc, want some?"  
the dirty paramedic asked hefting up the jug that finally came to him.

"I'm fine. I had too much coffee as usual before I came out here."  
he grumbled, turning on a paper EKG strip so he could get an updated reading on Captain Stanley for his patient chart. "If I think about it too much, I'll probably float away. Enjoy that amongst yourselves. Thanks."  
he said quickly.

Gage shrugged and returned to getting an uncalled for set of vitals on the dozing Leo.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chet Kelly was turned instantly mute by the sight of the sophisticated, completely complicated surveillance room. Monitors covered every free wall, counter and lap space surrounding the five technicians in the room.

But Mr. Blaze strode forward unhesitatingly and touched a tech on the shoulder. "Show me." he said, indicating the largest monitor nearest him and Chet.

"Happened at 1108. Looks like a definite 10-95, boss. That fireman took it into the chest. See?" and a replay of Cap's shirt puckering up against his skin and the sudden bloom of red showed over and over again before the camera angle zoomed out to show the shooter himself. Lance.  
Eerily, the crook's figure mouthed the only audio anyone had captured.  
The frantic channel nine trick that Mike Stoker had dreamed up.

Mr. Blaze held Chet's questions pending until he had listened to the entire segment of babbling three times. While he was listening to the last replay,  
Chet's radio went off.

Kelly desperately turned down his volume but none of the casino techs seemed to be bothered by the addition of another radio voice. In fact, Mr. Blaze asked Chet to turn his up. It was Marco.

##We're through, Battalion. And all they need is water.##

Mr. Blaze nodded to a security supervisor in the room. "See to that,  
would you?"

The male supe shrugged and took a thermos from the refrigerator right next to the extensive camera console from a recess that Chet hadn't even seen and left quietly through the door to deliver it.

##Cap's alive. He's only not breathing because they had to knock him out for a chest tube insertion.## said Marco. ##All in all, the rest of em are fine. We only need the six personnel here to get em out, sir.##

##Ok, HT 51. I'll turn back the second team on your word of assurance.  
Kelly, is there's still no news of Hank's shooter?## asked Battalion.

"Uh,,,, they're on to something, chief. But it's a little too soon for details. Please stand by on that. My end's a little busy, sir."

##10-4, Kelly. We'll be standing by. Tell the casino folks that a full police response has been deployed, and a swat team.##

Chet Kelly looked up and realized that some of the monitors were already showing the SWAT unit's men and vehicles in live feeds.  
"I...see them, sir. Uh,..they know that already."

##Good going. Keep in touch, Kelly. Now, be sure to give me an update as soon as you gain full access to your trapped men and start getting them out of there. I want to coordinate the team coming in with the additional scoop stretcher you need with the ambulance crews working out here. Your victims will be loaded up first. Got that?##

"As clear as pictures, chief.." Chet quipped. Mr. Blaze smiled at that.  
"Fireman Kelly, over and out."

It was a minute later before Chet summoned up enough courage to ask his next question of the black sunglass shaded head of surveillance. "What is it that you're looking for, Mr. Blaze? Didn't you hear? My coworkers are all safe now and are just about as good as free."

"I heard, Mr. Kelly. But my first priority is to this casino. Doubtless you are wondering why I dragged you into the surveillance room. Well, this is why. I suspect the men who shot your captain are going to try to harm this establishment in an attempted robbery. We've just had two false fire alarms due to excessive dust blowing around the ventilation shafts over the restaurant. Looks like our crooks are on the move."

"Well, where do I fit in?" Chet asked with exasperation.

"These same men may try to use those weapons of theirs on my guests and start actively shooting at random again. When the time comes, no doubt we'll be requiring more than just your two paramedics to care for all of them. If that happens, I want nothing but the best people available immediately, for my patrons ....and employees. You are now our fire department radio go between. Don't mess it up, for their sakes.  
Responsibility for their lives, is now falling on your head."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo: Cap hurting, lying on his back being treated by Roy.

Photo: A chest gun shot wound close up.

Photo: Dr. Brackett wearing scrubs.

Photo: A chest tube insertion procedure.

Photo: A casino surveillance room.

Photo: Close up of a security team over monitors.

Photo: Chet Kelly looking very very put upon.

*  
From: "Cassidy Meyers"  
"Patti Keiper" Date: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:39 am Subject: That Personal Touch..

Peri the security guard stood by Marco Lopez as the last stair skirt was burned away and thrust aside by eager firefighter hands. Leo's scoop stretcher was the first of Station 51's injured to be evacuated into the casino vault's access tunnel leading into the heart of Softcount.

"He looks pretty good." said Peri to Lopez.

"Yeah, he's not the worst of em. My captain is. Some criminal out in the mall shot him, thinking there was a police watch dog after him." said Marco,  
watching the first set of four firemen take up shoulder and feet carrying positions to walk Leo out.

"So you know about that..." sighed Peri. "Mr. Blaze was hoping to stop those perpetrators without you fellows having to worry further about it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The last radio message we received had a point going into the red in a ventilation shaft above the restaurant coat check station." she replied. "Only there's no fire. The temperature gradient read as nominal. It's just dust blowing up. Because somebody inside was moving it around. Those unknowns are trying to get into the casino Mr. Lopez. Right now." she answered truthfully. "And the place where they are is by the only way we have to get your people out to the mall."

"So what's going to happen? My captain can't wait." Marco said.

Peri the guard stepped back out of the rescue party's way in the semi darkened, emergency lit tunnel and radioed out. "Security to Surveillance.  
They're extricating those wounded men now through the vault. Two stretchers."

##Surveillance copies. Continue the rescue operation. Know that PD swat is maneuvering into a surround. You have close coverage.##

Peri sighed, "That's a relief."

"What is?" said Marco, aiming his flashlight down the dusty hallway for signs of Roy and Johnny coming through with Cap's scoop and I.V.s.

"We're not alone anymore. The cops are moving in to intercept." she replied.

"Doesn't that put us into a whole lotta danger?" Marco fidgetted.

"Not really. Not if we pretend that everything's normal. Those robbers won't pay any attention to us if we don't pay any to them. It's on some form of money that they're going to focus on. Not on any people. So far, their MO's aren't suggesting any active homicidal tendencies. We've photos and names on the two involved so far with your captain's shooting."  
Peri replied.

"That was fast."

"It always is. We can get right down to any moving traffic violations off a photo sometimes."

But Marco wasn't listening. "Here Cap comes. Grab his I.V. lines. They're going to be busy bagging him. This is Johnny and Roy at his head. Stoker and somebody at his feet."

"I got em.." said Peri, accepting them from Roy DeSoto. "Turn ninety to the left once you see the money sorting table." she told them all as they came past her.

Captain Stanley was fully unconscious once more and lying quietly in the scoop stretcher, being breath supported. The blood filled, sealed off chest tube lay carefully along his side, still protectively wrapped in the stained blue surgical sheets that Dr. Brackett had used beneath the spaghetti pile of his deattached EKG wiring. Johnny Gage had a set of fingers clamped on Cap's brachial pulse as he walked.

"Do you need your doctor to meet us at the main doors?" Peri asked, tapping her ear bud and coil resting behind her neck.

Gage shook his head. "Thanks for guiding us. Your answer's no. He's been treated as much as he can be at the mall. Now there's just getting him outta here. How far now?"

"Forty yards, through secured hallway, then another ninety to the right down the middle of the gaming floor. You'll see the sunlight by the exit at the main doors." Peri answered, making sure the I.V. lines were free and still flowing as they hurried through the maze deep inside the casino.  
"Expect a little excitement on the way."

"Ooo, I take that to mean that we all should take cover getting out of the way when the police make their final move?" Roy guessed.

"Yeah." said Peri. "In between the slot machine rows is best, against a wall."

The two paramedics nodded as they saw another guard swipe open the final door out of the secured area of the vault hallway. The noise of normal casino electronic bells and slot machine music met their ears.

Marco's hands tensed on the foot handle of Cap's stretcher. ::Now what? I feel like a goldfish in a shooting barrel.:: He spoke into his walkie talkie.  
"HT 51 to Battalion One. We're out and headed for the mall. We'll need another oxygen tank in less than five minutes." he reported tapping the regulator dial on Cap's cylinder.

##One will be waiting for you when you emerge.## replied the chief.

"Look sharp.." said Peri, as they were joined by more unarmed security guards who cleared out some completely obvious, lounging slot players and pushed in chairs that were in their way. "Hug the wall, sirs." she told Johnny and Roy. "We have to go around the early drop power shift over there."

Station 51's three saw another cluster of security guards working around a very large DBA money cart exactly like those in the vault room with another team of navy tunic-ed machine money pullers. The area was courdoned off with yellow plastic chains which outlined the area cameras were watching even as they kept out the milling casino guests as full money boxes were replaced with empty ones and shelved onto the money cart. The guests inside the chained areas were asked to abandon their coats and coin buckets while things progressed.

The stretcher line rescue party made their way slowly by the drop detail. Marco was more than just nervous and it began to rub off on Johnny, Roy and Stoker, who crouched even lower over Cap without even knowing it.

Suddenly, Peri and the other security guards shouted a warning. "On the floor! Everybody, get under cover!" she said, gripping the sound piece in her ear, urgently.

The gang needed no encouragement. They dropped Cap and Leo's stretchers onto the patterned carpetting and pushed them under the protective bulk of a row of slot machines underneath gaming chairs before they themselves laid onto their stomachs next to them.

Mr. Blaze snapped out an order on the guard channel. ##10-91! Lock it up!  
And disappear!##

The power shift officers literally threw any loose full metal money boxes being pulled from open slot machines onto the cart and then they slammed the metal doors of the cart shut. One guard locked a thick padlock on it before crawling away behind a row of machines.

The hardcount team fled in all directions, leaving the cart alone.

Gage and Roy watched as Peri and the other security guards peeled out of their conspicuous white and black uniform shirts down to their T shirts. They immediately grabbed some guest sweaters and jackets still draped over the voluntarily vacated chairs in the drop area and slowly put them on where they crouched, watching the open areas of the casino intently. In seconds, not a single security guard uniform was in sight. They now blended in wonderfully, looking like guests. Now, they were much safer than they had been before.

"What's going on?" Marco whispered at Peri.

"The robbers are headed this way. The cameras have spotted them. Do nothing! It's not any of our jobs to confront them!" Peri said. "They're going for the drop cart!"

Roy and Johnny wormed their way deeper under the machines, still keeping the ambu bag working where they were hidden, for Hank.

"We're not getting paid enough for this.." Gage hissed in frustration,  
getting himself out of line of sight.

"You took the words right out of my mouth.." Peri said, eyeing the ceiling and listening to something over her radio intently.

"D*mn it, Cap, just keep a heartbeat through all this. We've no headroom for any CPR.." Stoker grumbled.

"I think he heard ya.." Johnny joked. " His pulse just leaped out a little stronger..." he whispered. "He's sure not in danger here."

"Good." hissed Stoker, his face warring between a smile and a scowl.

A trio of three in black lappelled jackets and gray pants arrowed by the firemen's location, giving Peri and the other concealed security guards a thumbs up before they just as silently moved off for the direction of the money cart. Handcuffs winked at their leather belts next to metallic badges.

"Who were they?" asked Marco.

"S.L.'s. Our supervisors." Peri grinned. "Looks like they're taking action. Stay close and stay very still." she said, her face growing serious as she studied the direction in which they had gone.

Suddenly there was a crash and the sound of guests startling as new suspicious figures in black, erupted out of the shadows in the dim casino lighting, for the money cart. The robbers!

Marco saw Peri nod at a command given to her on her radio and she leaped up to heave a shoulder against the heavy silver metal drop cart. It tipped over with a thud and pinned a man in a black ski mask by the legs and his gun with a silencer was knocked out of his gloved hands as he went down.

Lance screeched in pain and grabbed the edge of the massive cart but he was no longer a threat.

Gage shouted out a warning. "Look out!" as another robber rushed to attack Peri. The guest sweatered security guard went down in a heaping tangle of legs and collapsed into stillness as the infuriated Mugsy started kicking her. "You stupid girl! Things were going so well!  
We had it m---!"

That was as far as the mastermind got. A team of swat men buried him to the floor and away from the security guard and he was quickly cuff immobilized in front of a furiously barking Luke on the end of Vince Howard's leash.

-  
Every television screen in the Surveillance room except for the ones watching the vault were tuned into every microscopic detail of the assault taking place on the casino.

Chet practically dug his fingernails into the back of Mr. Blaze's surveillance chair when he saw the fighting so near his coworkers and Cap.  
He gave another gasp when he saw the female security guard go down.

"Relax, Mr. Kelly, things are under control.." said Mr. Blaze.

"But, but...but she's hurt! And Johnny and Roy can't get to her from where they are." Kelly insisted.

"She's not. Look." and Chet was shown a close up of Peri's face, where she lay quietly waiting for the SWAT team to secure the area. She had a predator's grin on her face. "The ground's the best place to be in an all out kicking fight. My guards know that." he replied. "She's just not drawing attention to herself at the moment."

Chet's mouth popped open and a smile flicked there momentarily before it was swept away once more into intense worry for his stationmates. He lifted his HT to his mouth. "Gage, that guard's fine.  
Hold fast."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Out on the casino floor, Johnny immediately halted his move to cross the floor distance over to Peri on his belly. "What? Ok..." he said vocally, throwing his hands up into the air. Soon, his sharp eyes spotted the normal breathing on her and he shifted his attention once more onto Cap and his I.V.s.

Roy had figured it out. "Clever girl. She's just background now."

He watched as another black jacketted S.L. crawled forward to handcuff Lance, too, with a knee to the chest. She didn't bother to move the cart trapping his knees firmly. But she did look up at the firemen. "Left leg's broken.." she gestured. But then she gave them a stay gesture and froze, listening to her ear radio suddenly as a surveillance technician updated her on a new change in her ongoing situation.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chet watched as the remaining four robbers abandoned their buddies to make an escape through a nearby Safeco store on surveillance camera. A team of swat gave hot pursuit soon after.

Sighing, Chet sank down onto an empty chair. "Does this happen every day of the week?"

"Often enough to keep us on our toes." smiled Mr. Blaze knowingly vague. "Your work's done here, Mr. Kelly. How about you go out and join your friends? Just follow this guard and he'll show you a way fast enough so you can catch up to them."

Chet didn't have to be encouraged in the slightless to leave.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Out on the casino floor, Roy had already crouched over Lance with a new team of firefighters to start the robber's rescue from underneath the hundreds of pounds money cart. Gage was too mad at him to participate so instead, he contented himself with giving Stoker unnecessary orders on Cap's continued care while they loaded him up into a Mayfair.

Marco Lopez helped Peri off of the floor. "You ok?"

"Never better, Mr. Lopez. Now that, was invigorating.. Nothing like a little action on day shift."

Lopez laughed as he hurried away to go help DeSoto get the splint he needed for the crook's leg. "Thanks for everything."

"Come back again. But just for fun next time. And not just on one of our medical calls. I wish you luck with all those injured people out there, Mr. Lopez." Peri waved, "All my prayers."  
she said returning the guest sweater back to the chair it had come from. She winked before turning to make sure the money cart was still secure and locked. It was quickly muscle hauled back onto its steel running wheels and soon the push team rapidly returned to mind it.

The last the firefighters saw of her was her contacting Mr. Blaze to say that the drop cart was on the way to the vault, fully intact.

=========================================================== It was a few days later, and Kel Brackett was sitting in his office,  
surrounded by charged up, worked up, worried paramedics at the recertification meeting.

"Now gentlemen, you're all making me out as the Spanish Inquisition! A few changes in departmental policies never hurt anybody."  
declared the brown haired doctor.

A sharp clearing of the throat timed perfectly to fall clearly into a quiet moment, from Dixie McCall, immediately made Kel blush right down to his toes.

"Well, all right. It bugs everybody a bit for the first few days or even weeks,  
until everybody finds themselves used to it. Now these are some, for instance."  
he said, handing out editted versions of the thick packet that once was the Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedic procedure manual. "Outlined in here is everything that you fellas seem to do automatically even when one of us doctors is on the phone line with you. Getting the right I.V.s set up, or the correct airway for the situation presenting itself. Even down to working a cardiac arrest case, step by step. It's high time for us doctors to take a step back and let you paramedics leap a few forward. You're all highly trained professionals at the absolute height of your best game. Gee, I thought I'd never hear myself say this but,..now it's time to let you guys fly solo. We're giving you your heads to treat every medical or trauma situation to the best of your training without a constant radio presence in the hope of greatly shortening up the time span it takes for you to deliver a victim to us personally. And that, gentlemen, takes a giant leap of faith.. Shall we begin outlining the new changes? Say, five minutes from now." Dr. Brackett said.

Dixie McCall began smiling secretly to herself where she said cross legged in a chair as the paramedics around her began to squirm. "Oh, come on, fellas. I promise this'll be painless. I've gone through it.." she admitted.

"Yeah, and how many deaths did you die breaking old habits for new?"

"Not even once, Johnny Gage." she chided, nailing him with her eyes.  
"I had fun being your victim hanging way up on that building."

Roy chuckled. "Yeah, that's after we covered your face with the tarp so that you couldn't look down."

"That scoop stretcher's tiny!" Dixie said in mortified indignation.

"And so are you..." said Johnny. "It was a piece of cake. We had ya down in a few minutes. Not even enough time for you to wet your shorts."

"I wasn't scared..." Dixie insisted. "And I didn't pee myself."

"No, but it woulda made your supposed unconscious state seem more real to us."

"Don't be such a detailer.. Gross." Dixie laughed uproariously.

"All our recertification training's supposed to be realistic, right?"  
Johnny said seriously.

"Not that realistic." she said making a face. "Even the moulage wounds are rubber."

"But the fake blood's still red. I like that part.." said Gage, getting into it.

"It feels gross when you're soaked in it." admitted Dixie.

"Really?" Roy asked. "I thought Brice says it dries on pretty good."

"It doesn't. It ruins your clothes, too. I had to throw mine away."

"You mean, even that bathing suit you wore underneath after I cut your clothes off? Man, that one was classy.." Johnny said, leaning close.

"Johnny! I heard that.." said Brackett, ever protective of his nurse.

"Sorry.. Never let it be said that Dixie's shapely chassis is sub par."  
toasted Gage with his styrofoam cup of steaming coffee.

The room erupted in cheers and cat whistles much to Dixie's chagrin.  
She hid briefly behind a hand to hide her embarrassed reaction.

Then she got a look of pure mischief in her eyes and leaned in closer to both Roy and Johnny. "How'd ya like the fake seizure I threw in when you least expected it?"

It was Johnny's turn to blush unexpectedly. Roy just sat back in his chair and started laughing. "Ha! I know better than to squat over a patient's arm and hand. Ya goosed him good, Dixie. He must've jumped up a mile high.."

"I did not.." Gage hissed through tight teeth.

"You did, too. I was watching the whole time.." said Brackett from across the room. "Remember I was your protocol tester yesterday.  
Nice move, Dix. Every paramedic should learn the lesson Roy knows already."

"I aim to please." Dixie said bowing her head with a grace that spoke of gentle self congratulation. "Somebody's gotta protect these boys' assets."

That only made Gage blush redder. "Changing the subject. Cap says hi.  
Roy and I visited him in his room just before the meeting began. Doc, nice bit of surgery. Didya give him the bullet?"

"Of course." said Brackett with feigned insult. "He's gotta have something to show the missus for his trouble. And it'll be a whole lotta fun for him to show that to some new probie when it comes time to show off that medal of honor of his during any fire training."

Roy smiled. "Do you know, he's the first one in our station to ever receive one?  
I mean, the one Johnny and I got by mistake, doesn't count. It was rescinded as soon as someone realized it. And he's proud of it, too. He thinks that getting it'll chill McConnike for a while about remembering when Hank burned his hat. He's hoping the effect will last long enough to get us through the summer without even a single surprise inspection."

"That'll be the day.." Johnny said, rolling his eyes. "Say, Dix.. Uh,..If I can ask, what tripped up Brice earlier about all this freedom we're getting granted working as paramedics?"

Dixie took a knowing sip from her coffee and made sure the room opposite Craig was preoccupied with the new manual before she answered. "There weren't enough rules. He choked working on his victim in the building scenario."

Gage bit his lip suppressing a chuckle. "But he's still working, Dixie. How'd ya get him over that kind of reaction good enough to pass?"

"I didn't goose him."

Roy spit out his mouthful of coffee all over the floor.

FIN

Episode Twenty, Recertification

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